New to the forum. Just give you the run down. I saved an 81 LUV diesel 2wd 5-spees from rotting in a field. After rebuilding most of the front end it is my daily driver. When I bought the LUV, I also got an 85 Pup diesel 5-speed in the deal. Horrible body on the pup but the LUV is "ok". Has rust (or as I like to call it "active weight reduction") on the bed of the LUV pretty bad and the cab corners. The LUV still has all its original glass too. All the glass has Isuzu stamps on it

My questions are

How long can one of these motors last? My odometer stopped working at 310,532.4 miles. It runs great as is but fuel mileage is only around 36 mpgs. I've heard these motors get 40+. Any suggestions?

Window cranks are broken, any acceptable replacements? Holding the windows up with screwdrivers right now

Can I add power steering?

Thanks for any help. Looking forward to learning tons of info from this foruns

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File comment: How it looks now. I took the bench out and put two captains leather chairs from a 91 Isuzu truck at salvage yardIMG_1183.JPG [ 944.78 KiB | Viewed 963 times ]

Welcome aboard. You're actually new to "LUVs" (not "LUV's"). It's like the plural of "motor" -- just add an "s" and you're done.

You have what's often called the "second generation" LUV on this site. There are some LUV purists who never came around to embrace the second gen, but it shares quite a bit mechanically with the first generation (which wasn't really the first generation worldwide, just first generation in the US). And it's hard not to LUV the diesel.

The diesel was not offered in the US before 1981. Even though GM dropped the LUV when they introduced the S10, the same truck was sold here from 1981-1987 as the Isuzu P'up.

Seneca8808 wrote:

How long can one of these motors last? My odometer stopped working at 310,532.4 miles.

Typically, they have to be well maintained to go that long. Sadly, many of them weren't well maintained. The transmission on that one has probably been rebuilt and/or replaced two or three times. Those early ones were fortunate to make it to 100k. The '86 and later transmissions should last as long as the engines.

Seneca8808 wrote:

It runs great as is but fuel mileage is only around 36 mpgs. I've heard these motors get 40+. Any suggestions?

That's probably on the high side of "average". "40+ MPG" is what we hear from people who "calculate" mileage via the fuel gauge rather than using basic math. That, and lying Craigslist sellers. Typical fuel economy is probably around 32-36 MPG, with very little difference between suburban vs. highway driving. I've hit 40 mpg one time in 34 years, and that was holding it at 55 for 600 miles straight. Mine is generally around 34 mpg.

If your speedometer is working, your odometer just needs a good cleaning. The parts are stuck.

Power steering - It can be done, but it's not as easy/cheap as you might expect, and you'd have to use salvaged parts.

Timing belt. If it breaks, you'll also break rocker arms and bend the pushrods. They're getting hard to find.

Transmission. Make sure it has motor oil like the engine uses. Gear lube will lead to even earlier failure. Don't lug 5th gear, and don't even use it below 40 mph (some say 45). Lugging stresses the countershaft and input shaft bearings, which are usually the first thing to fail.

Glow system connections. I'd estimate 90% of the glow-related starting problems are from weak wire connections.

Fuel line condition. I'm pretty sure many diesels have been scrapped because they were misdiagnosed as having bad injection pumps, when it was really nothing but an air leak somewhere in the fuel system.

Starting fluid. Just DON'T use it. It can do serious damage to the engine.

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